“What is it then, sir?” Jack asked.
“Some Jap trick I’d say,” the Commander rumbled. “They may be closer than we think. The Germans claim they’ve got planes loaded with TNT that they guide by radio. It might be one of those.”
From below came the murmur of many voices. All over the ship men were calling, “What is it?” “What’s going on?” “Here it comes!” “Here she comes!”
Jack wondered if they would be ordered to battle stations, but no order came.
“It’s high up and coming fast.” There was a suggestion of huskiness in the Commander’s voice.
“It will pass over quickly, sir,” Jack declared. “Unless....”
“Yes,” the Commander agreed.
To Jack, whose mind often conjured up strange things, all that lay about him—the night, the black sea, the tiny lights blinking in from nowhere, and the eerie scream from the night sky—seemed part of another world.
The Commander took a more practical view of it. “Maybe a meteor,” he grumbled.
“A meteor!” Jack was startled.